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Lot Essay
Jan van Kessel initially trained in the workshop of the Antwerp history painter Simon de Vos, before working under the tutelage of his maternal uncle Jan Breughel II. In 1644, he was first recorded as a blomschilder (flower painter) in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. Indeed, van Kessel’s specialization as a painter of still lifes, especially flowers, is reiterated by the inscription proclaiming him as a ‘painter very renowned in flowers’ appended to the engraved portrait of the artist in the second volume of Cornelis de Bie’s Het Gulden Cabinet (1662). Van Kessel, however, did not limit himself to this type of painting, and his oeuvre is remarkable for the sheer variety of genres in which he displayed a mastery.
It has been suggested that this painting is one of a series of ten large flower pieces painted on copper by van Kessel in or around 1652. The paintings in the series are all approximately the same size and were likely designed in pairs. A picture sold at Sotheby’s, London, 5 December 2007, lot 24, for example, has been identified as the pendant to the Flowers in a porcelain vase in the Heinz collection (op. cit.). The rest of the series is now housed across American and European private collections. The vessels in which the bouquets are held vary within the group, and indeed the artist’s use of a Chinese jardinière in the present painting appears to be unique.
These large flower paintings exceed, in both scale and ambition, any other work van Kessel attempted in his career and, as such, must likely have been made for a prestigious patron. While the original owner is unknown, the early Spanish provenance of some of the coppers has led to the suggestion that they were commissioned by a Spanish collector. No records suggest van Kessel visited Spain, though his son, Jan van Kessel II, did travel to Madrid to work at the court of Philip IV. Flanders and Spain had long-established cultural and mercantile links, resulting in innumerable works by Flemish artists entering Spanish collections. Bergström has suggested that van Kessel’s paintings may have been introduced to the Spanish market by his contemporary and collaborator, Daniel Seghers, whose work frequently appears in inventories of collections across the Iberian peninsula.
It has been suggested that this painting is one of a series of ten large flower pieces painted on copper by van Kessel in or around 1652. The paintings in the series are all approximately the same size and were likely designed in pairs. A picture sold at Sotheby’s, London, 5 December 2007, lot 24, for example, has been identified as the pendant to the Flowers in a porcelain vase in the Heinz collection (op. cit.). The rest of the series is now housed across American and European private collections. The vessels in which the bouquets are held vary within the group, and indeed the artist’s use of a Chinese jardinière in the present painting appears to be unique.
These large flower paintings exceed, in both scale and ambition, any other work van Kessel attempted in his career and, as such, must likely have been made for a prestigious patron. While the original owner is unknown, the early Spanish provenance of some of the coppers has led to the suggestion that they were commissioned by a Spanish collector. No records suggest van Kessel visited Spain, though his son, Jan van Kessel II, did travel to Madrid to work at the court of Philip IV. Flanders and Spain had long-established cultural and mercantile links, resulting in innumerable works by Flemish artists entering Spanish collections. Bergström has suggested that van Kessel’s paintings may have been introduced to the Spanish market by his contemporary and collaborator, Daniel Seghers, whose work frequently appears in inventories of collections across the Iberian peninsula.